likaleica Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 I'm getting my 1939 Plymouth Touring Sedan back on the road after many years in storage and I'm having problems with the old original Carter Ball & Ball carburettor. It's got a worn throttle plate spindle (and when I strip it down I will doubtless find other issues) - and replacement spindles etc seem impossible to obtain even in the States. Here in the UK, carb rebuild specialists just roll their eyes when you mention Carter and say they can't help.That has led me to consider fitting a more modern carb to the old 6 cylinder 201 ci flathead engine.......It'll need to be a carb that does not require electrical connections because the car's electrics are 6 volt positive earth and after a lot of deliberation I've decided to keep them that way.I'm hoping someone out there can suggest an easily obtainable type and a supplier ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casper50 Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) I think it would be easier to get a rebuilt one or have your's rebuilt even with you being in England. http://www.classicpreservation.com/carbrebuilding.html http://www.antiquecarburetors.com/ http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/ http://www.customrebuiltcarbs.com/ http://www.thecarbshop.com/ Edited July 15, 2015 by casper50 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andydodge Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Here in Oz a readily available alternative has been the single barrel Stromberg that Oz GM Holdens used from 1948 thru to the late 70's, from the late 60's they were used on 186-202 cube six cylinder engines which meant they were an almost perfect fit........what about some sort of late 50's early 60's Vauxhall or similar.....they used a large 6 with a downdraft single barrel carby which maybe able to be rejetted.........also just thought that maybe a small pommy truck/van such as a Bedford or Ford Transit might be a possibility.............your problem lies with the Pommy use of those leakers called Skinner Unions which were a common fitment.......anyway I'd either bite the bullet and get a nice rebuilt Carter from the US or checkout some of the alternatives I suggested......lol..........Oz Holden Strombergs probably aren't a wise move in the UK.....lol.......these were the Strombergs I had lined up for the engine I was building for the Plymouth and a pic of the one that came on the car when I bought it........andyd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casper50 Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 My 47 Dodge came stock with the Stromberg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linus6948 Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) Mike`s Carburetor is another great resource, and Mike is a heck of a nice guy. He also has a lot of videos on utube that can be very helpful when you are rebuilding a carb on your own. http://www.carburetor-parts.com/ Edited July 15, 2015 by linus6948 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Well you could have some build you an adapter or may be find one at a wreckers yard like from a rover v8 and plop on an 1 1/2 " SU. Should be plenty of folks familiar with those in your whereabouts. Conversely any machine shop should be able to make a throttle shaft and bushings for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsunzeri Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 I'm getting my 1939 Plymouth Touring Sedan back on the road after many years in storage and I'm having problems with the old original Carter Ball & Ball carburettor. It's got a worn throttle plate spindle (and when I strip it down I will doubtless find other issues) - and replacement spindles etc seem impossible to obtain even in the States. Here in the UK, carb rebuild specialists just roll their eyes when you mention Carter and say they can't help. That has led me to consider fitting a more modern carb to the old 6 cylinder 201 ci flathead engine....... It'll need to be a carb that does not require electrical connections because the car's electrics are 6 volt positive earth and after a lot of deliberation I've decided to keep them that way. I'm hoping someone out there can suggest an easily obtainable type and a supplier ! The spindle (shaft) of the throttle plate does not generally get replaced. The holes in the air horn get re-bushed. This can be done by just about any jr. machine shop novice with commonly available brass bushing stock. I believe re-bushing kits are also available. There's not a lot of other stuff to go wrong in the Carter B&B that is not fixed by a standard rebuild kit, commonly available. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55 Fargo Posted July 15, 2015 Report Share Posted July 15, 2015 Contact Norm @ Mid Canada Parts 1-204-475-3399, he specializes in Vintage Mopar in Canada. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
likaleica Posted July 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Here in Oz a readily available alternative has been the single barrel Stromberg that Oz GM Holdens used from 1948 thru to the late 70's, from the late 60's they were used on 186-202 cube six cylinder engines which meant they were an almost perfect fit........what about some sort of late 50's early 60's Vauxhall or similar.....they used a large 6 with a downdraft single barrel carby which maybe able to be rejetted.........also just thought that maybe a small pommy truck/van such as a Bedford or Ford Transit might be a possibility.............your problem lies with the Pommy use of those leakers called Skinner Unions which were a common fitment.......anyway I'd either bite the bullet and get a nice rebuilt Carter from the US or checkout some of the alternatives I suggested......lol..........Oz Holden Strombergs probably aren't a wise move in the UK.....lol.......these were the Strombergs I had lined up for the engine I was building for the Plymouth and a pic of the one that came on the car when I bought it........andyd Thanks to all who replied - plenty of options to explore here! Andyd mentions Bedford and oddly enough I have in storage a Bedford CF (Blitz) camper van with a single barrel Weber carb - might whip that off and see if it fits the Plymouth! When I manage to sort something out I'll post again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 What engine does your camper have? If it is a 4 cylinder I would think the carb would be a little undersized for your 3.2 liter Plymouth 6. If its the holden 6 cylinder then it might be close. And being a Webber might have an adjustable main jet so you could fiddle with the mixture. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andydodge Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Doubt if its the Holden carb but they may have been used elsewhere, but I know that small Bedford trucks like the early postwar O series used basically the Chev 6, even up to the mid 60's so there might be something on them......andyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martybose Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 (snip) And being a Webber might have an adjustable main jet so you could fiddle with the mixture. good luck. I've never seen a Weber carb with an adjustable main jet; They usually have a number of fixed jets controling varying aspects of the fuel mixture. I actually bought a bunch of different types of jets/air bleeds for my Carter-Webers, and eventually gave up and went back to what they came with. Marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 Marty I was thinking of the side draft styles that were often found on Fiats and Alfas and other similar engines. I believe the main jets which are available in different bores that can be swapped to provide more or less fuel. also have an air metering screw for fine tuning the air fuel mix before it enters the emulsion tube, These also had venturis that were of different sizes depending of CFM need of the engine application. Same carb body, different venturi and main jet sizes, plus the air bleed adjustments make them tunable to specific needs. But you are right, the out of the box setting is probably the best default. SU's have the adjusting nut on the main jet that sets the body of the jet in relation to the tapered needle there by adjusting their air fuel ratio. Probably the easiest to set and adjust assuming the carb is initially sized to the cfm needs of what it is being attached to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharps40 Posted July 18, 2015 Report Share Posted July 18, 2015 (edited) The weber you mention, single barrel.....is possibly the very common and very reliable 34 ICH/ICT (W/WO choke). Its a very small engine carb. It'll probably adapt to your flat head and run wonderful, at low speed. Its very likely to be too small for pulling and higher RPM. Usually these 34s are used in pairs on inline six engines of 200 to 300 cu in. The Weber is the best carb in the world. Once tuned, it will run so well that you will think you have fuel injection. A better choice will likely be the progressive 32/36 with either manual or electric choke. A bit harder to tune the transition phase but very doable. I use one on my 65 C10 250 inline six. Wonderful carb. Starts like fuel injection, pulls like crazy, idles smooth as silk and once tuned and jetted to the motors needs throughout the rpm range, forget about it for about 100K miles. Any of the webers will need a fuel regulator if your mechanical pump delivers more than about 3.5 to 4 psi at the carb inlet. All webers need to make use of the large style fuel filters (think coke can size) since they have numerous jets in side.......the jets are what make it so wonderfully tuneable to so many engines. Your source for information is Stovebolt Engine Company......Tom Langdon has both HEI for the MOPAR flat heads and can help you select a Weber and adapt it to your engine. But, if you don't know your way around a carb and have never tuned an engine via jet changing, you need to find a foreign car shop, preferably with a chassis dyno or at least a Air/Fuel ratio reading capability to tune in the 32/36. 99% of compaints with webers and the weber progressive two barrels are arm chair experts that Holler what they know on the boards but ain't never really read a carb manual or even the detailed instructions on tuning and jetting a weber! Typically the complaints with the 32/36 progressive are hesitation on hard acceleration coming off the primary and into the secondary. Folks seem to forget you have to tune in 4 areas, start/idle, running, transition, Wide open throttle. These tyros of the boards usually can't tell you the four phases and as such, usually only recommend tuning idle and WOT......that's only half the job with any carbie. Edited July 18, 2015 by Sharps40 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
likaleica Posted July 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 Agree with you about the Weber carb's superiority! This is incredibly useful information and I'll check out the Weber option for sure - thanks Sharps40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellYeah Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 I´m running a Weber 32/36 on my -47 Dodge right now. But the reason is that I happen to have one on the shelf in my garage, and my old carb was failing. Built an adaptor for the Weber and installed. The car run more smooth, but are lacking power when going up steep hills. This might be cause my Weber is tuned for a 140 hp Volvo 2,3 liter engine. Also I learned when connecting a vacuum gauge to the vakuum port on the Weber I got no vakuum when idling. The reason is that the vakuum port is over the throttle plate on my Weber. Made a vakuum port under the carb in my adapter, and measure good vakuum when idling . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Coatney Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 The vacuum port above the throttle plate is for the vacuum advance. The vacuum advance only comes into play when the throttle butterfly is open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharps40 Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 (edited) Correct. That location is ported vacuum for use on the dizzy vacuum advance. You will not see vacuum there at or under about 700ish rpm. This is normal as you don't want the vacuum advance kicking in prior to the motor beginning to spin up. Use the ported vacuum for vacuum advance and the manifold vacuum (under throttle plate or on the manifold or adapter itself) for such items as wipers, power brakes, PCV, etc. Edited July 19, 2015 by Sharps40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredde Posted July 20, 2015 Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 Hi I had problems with my ball, ball Carburetors.. I made a custom adapter plate and so I assembled a weber dcd 36/36, equipped it with drilling nozzles, had to solder again a few times but it works really well, good idle and Nice at all turns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50fargo2024 Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 Has anyone done a weber 32 36 swap on a pilothouse flathead cant seem to get the trucks throw rod right any help appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.